


Butterfly Style

by Curly



Category: Free!
Genre: Character Study, Fluff, Free! S3 EP11 killed me, M/M, Matsuoka Rin-centric, Rin figuring out his life, Rin loving every person he knows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 19:18:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16046870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Curly/pseuds/Curly
Summary: Rin has many important people in his life. He couldn't deny, though, that Sousuke was special.******Placed at the final of episode 11.





	Butterfly Style

**Author's Note:**

> Since I watched free! for the first time Rin was always my favorite character and I was always a big fan of all his ships or relationships he had with other people, at the beginning he was a little problematic due to his own weaknesses, but wow he has grown so much since then that he never ceases to amaze me. And since the first time I watched his relationship with Sousuke they were officially my otp and until today I can't believe that I haven't written anything about them like wtf is wrong with me kasdjka. This maybe is not something that would slow down my hunger for this otp, but it's an analysis about Rin and his loved ones I was thinking about writing long ago and with I finally after free! eps yesterday had enough inspiration to write so, hope you like it!

 

 

_"The bonds I have with these guys are the reason I’m here. I’m gonna keep them alive from now on, far into the future."_

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Rin changed every day. Time was a new aspect of his life which he hadn't previously taken into account, but which in his day-to-day reality was practically impossible to ignore and he had to even consider it becoming his best friend.

Time was everything, and the moments that passed didn't return.

When he was younger he hadn't given that much thought to that fact, but being back in Australia, starting a new life which would define the course of his future, it was almost impossible not to think about how valuable time was and how to make the best of every breath he took. Because breaths didn't come back. Each step we take when walking forward doesn't come back to itself, because making a new one or even walking backwards implies a new act of moving our feet. Everything was new. Everything was a change in itself, however simple it was, and Rin began to understand it much better now that he was back in Japan and had the opportunity to see his friends take their own steps forward and change, change and grow for no one else that for themselves and the course of their futures, even tho they didn't give such importance at the fact at the time.

"Haru! It's finally our turn next, huh?"

Rin in a certain way couldn't wait to compete against Haru. Against Ikuya Kirishima. Against Albert Wahlander. And not least, against Sousuke.

If Rin was a very competitive person, that didn't matter much. He wouldn't be where he is today if he didn't, and he didn't regret anything he had done in the past because that would mean that maybe things would not be as they currently are, and although there were things that he would like to change, time was irreversible and it was humanly impossible to do so. Assuming our actions in the past is paramount to be able to walk towards the future with a clean head and with more specific objectives.

And Rin was more than willing to run forward, where the goal awaited him, and where that same goal had new goals. And where those new goals took him even further in the future that he always dreamed of as a child. What his father always dreamed of, now transformed into his own personal ambition to continue with his dreams, because they were his, but also to treasure the fact that before they were someone else's dream, and that them were possibly the dream of other people that couldn't fulfill them.

In a certain way, having dreams so important for oneself felt with a lot of responsibility.

And not any kind of responsibility. But that personal responsibility that you had with yourself, and which hurts and hits even stronger than a stab when any situation in life doesn't allow you to be as responsible with your dreams as you wanted.

But Rin was ready for any adversity. He was and he felt more than ready to even drag his way to the top no matter how much it cost. No matter how much physical effort he would need, not matter how much willpower was necessary, and no even matter how much mental strength he would have to put in until the last breath.

Life was a constant of changes and new challenges, and Rin was very aware in each of his thoughts that even though he was a crybaby, he would be a crybaby who would triumph.

And it was comforting, on many levels which terrified Rin a little, how Sousuke could see something good in his weepy and vulnerable aspect.

He usually detested being so sensitive and expressing his emotions so much, but he had grown up to learn that he had to make each one of his mood swings a strength, and it was, every time, truly nice when his best friend appreciated that side of him too. It was comforting in many ways, and Rin, seeing Sousuke's smile, that smile that was returning again, couldn't help but feel himself in the past. A past that would no longer return, but could become a very promising future.

Sousuke was always special, Rin knew it seriously well.

Rin had many important people in his life. His family was perhaps small, but he loved them unconditionally as a human being could love his mother and his younger sister healthily. Both were important but in a unique sense. They were his family. They were all he had in terms of blood ties. They were that something that would always be constant in his life and the home he had to return after traveling around the world and meeting new faces. They were that kind smile that would always be waiting for him with a plate of tasty food and a warm hug. They were almost everything, and Rin loved them with all his being.

On the other hand, there were his friends. Haru was a big inspiration to Rin's heart when they were little, and he always motivated him to have great expectations and unimaginable dreams. And it still was that way. Haru would always be another constant in his life now that both were on the same path which led them to the same goal. Maybe their dreams were similar but not the same, but Haru would always be his precious rival and with who Rin had all the affection for the world. Then, there was Makoto. He had known him for so long and although that with Haru he always had a kind of favoritism, Makoto had managed to open his own path under Rin's skin in the kindest way anyone could imagine, and his presence always made Rin feel good. Makoto was always a cable to the ground and that friend who always came to him when something was out of his hands and he needed help. And Rin always had time for Makoto and even more to give him a hand. Nagisa and Rei on the other hand were another very different case. Although things hadn't started well with Rei, Rin was very fond of him and puffed his chest with pride to see him grow and swim as well in the style that Rin had taught him. Rei was quite energetic and his personality used to amuse him, and there was always something in Rei that appealed to him. Nagisa, the damn angel, was the kindest person Rin had ever met and with who he always had a very overprotective affection. Nagisa was a very pure person who only deserved good treatment, and Rin loved him so much with so many years of knowing him.

Already in a slightly more personal sense, Ai and Momo also entered into the equation of his important people, and Rin had no problem with it and actually thought he was quite capable of mentioning it out loud at this point. Ai has always been there religiously for him since he entered Samezuka, and Rin until today thought if he could have gotten where he is today without Ai's support. The little boy never failed to surprise him and leaving the team to Ai when he graduated was the most important and at the same time the most simple decision that he ever made. Decisions are important steps to help yourself and others move forward, and bad decisions often make you fall backwards. And definitely entrusting the team into Ai's hands, was equivalent to taking a hundred steps forward, and Rin was very proud of that and he knew that if the situation presented for him again, he would vote for Ai blindly. Momo on the other hand, was very relevant to Rin in a way that humiliatingly he didn't want to accept for himself. Because Momo since joining the team and even before was able to get to the bottom in the corny heart of Rin and become a very important person alongside his most precious people. It was humiliating to accept that in Australia when he saw some kids toys or souvenirs he thought about Momo and the smile he would give if he gave it to him as a present. It was humiliating the way he loved Momo, as if he were Gou but different, since Gou was not usually so intense and childish, but with the same feeling of a big brother to his younger brother. Ai and Momo were his little prides that awoke his older brother's instinct, and he had more affection towards them than he wanted to admit to himself.

And finally, but never, _ever_ , less important, _was_ _Sousuke._

Sousuke was, is, and will be his best friend. Someone he trusted blindly. Someone he knew he could count on unconditionally. Someone so old-fashioned and romantic as to write a letter to Rin every week knowing that he could just call him on the phone whenever he wanted. Someone so capable of making him laugh the loudest in his life as well as someone who could make him cry and release the most shameful sobs of all.

Someone to whom he had great appreciation and whom he wanted to see go far.

Sousuke was, in short, special among Rin's important people. He was his best friend. He was the shoulder on which he would never mind crying more than once. He was the smile he always wanted to see at the end of a bad day. He was the arms he wanted to be around when things were difficult. And he definitely was, the special person Rin wouldn't mind spending the rest of his life with.

With Sousuke they understood each other, with Sousuke they had confidence, with Sousuke they knew each other so thoroughly that it was overwhelming. The feeling of closeness he had with Sousuke was so overwhelming that sometimes he had to take a break and step aside to take a deep breath and then come back.

Many times he wondered if Haru and Makoto saw each other in that way. Clearly Haru and Makoto were nothing like them, but Rin couldn't help but imagine that Sousuke and he were seen by others in the same way that people used to see Haru and Makoto.

_Inseparable._

However, at the end of the day it did't matter much what other people thought. The impressions of others were for others and the only constant was what they knew they had between them, which was the really important thing.

And Rin knew, that the definition of their relationship with Sousuke was not the "inseparable" word. Rin didn't live in Japan and his dreams were placed in the world. His dreams were goals that went beyond the relationship he had with his important people. And Sousuke knew it, and Sousuke didn't care at all. Sousuke loved to see him fly away and swim to his dreams no matter how much they are in the other part of the world and as far away from him as humanly possible. Sousuke always supported him even though he was in the distance and Sousuke in spite of everything, he was always there, metaphorically, at the finish line at the end of the road watching Rin run up to him, struggling, covered in sweat, but always with a sharp smile and very determined eyes. His arms were always ready to receive him and Rin from the bottom of his heart adored him.

Rin loved Sousuke unconditionally. And in those moments, watching the sunset, and also looking at the back of Sousuke who in turn looked in the direction of the members of Samezuka, could affirm for himself that Sousuke was, is, and always will be special to him.

Maybe he wasn't so accurate at the time, but Rin liked to think that _solidity and resistance_ were very meaningful words to define what he felt, and he knew that Sousuke felt back in relation to both of them.

Sousuke suddenly looked at his back and catched Rin's eyes on his back, he smiled closing his eyes in his direction. Rin's heart stopped for a few seconds, but he knew it was still beating blood when Makoto said goodbye and Haru commented that they should return for the car which was still in that parking lot.

Sousuke, of course Sousuke, held out his clenched fist. Rin looked at him just a few seconds before reacting and crashing his own fist against Sousuke's with a big, bright smile that was returned.

Maybe in the future they could be able to say goodbye with the same significant fist bump, but adding more contact at the end. More specifically with their lips. But that was a thought that Rin suppressed for the moment.

The important thing was to regulate the rhythm of his new life, reach the first goal, and then consider ways to include his special person in his rhythm but being considered with the other one's life, the decision always on the person himself. Rin wasn't selfish and he wanted Sousuke to fly very far too. And he couldn't wait to see him compete with him on the world platform one day.

But until then, he would treasure what they had at the moment, not without avoiding thinking about how the future would receive them. Hopefully, with a smile even brighter than the last Sousuke gave him before taking different paths.

Definitely, time would be on his side, since Rin planned to make time his best friend, and the future would be promising. Promising for both. And for the moment, Rin's present will be nourished by that smile and those arms, which would always be there for him.

And for which, he would always be too.

_Solid and resistant._

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to leave kudos or tell me on the comments what you think about these two!! <3


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